NEW DELHI: An online campaign petitioning the director general of police, Maharashtra to drop the charges against the two Palghar girls, Shaheen Dhadha and Renu Srinivasan, has gathered more than 8,500 signatures at the time of writing, numbers steadily climbing. Started by a Kolkata-based 28-year-old Mukut Ray on Tuesday, the petition will be sent to the police commissioner of Thane, the chief minister of Maharashtra and director general of police, Maharashtra after it hits the 10,000-mark.

"I started out with a Facebook status, to see what my friends thought of it. But they were scared to even 'like' it. They asked me if I was sure I wanted to do this. But I was very angry and frustrated about what had happened. It is undemocratic and totally wrong," says Ray, who works for a non-profit organisation that works for underprivileged women and children.

Ray says she did not expect the kind of response she received for the petition, hosted on the website change.org. There were obvious apprehensions about posting it online since the arrests in question had been made for voicing a contrarian opinion on the web.

The Palghar girls were arrested after one of them posted a status update wondering about the efficacy of the state bandh following Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's death. The other was arrested for merely "liking" the status. Shaheen Dhadha's uncle's ortheopaedic clinic in Palghar was also vandalized by Shiv Sainiks before the arrest. The girls were arrested under section 505 (2) of the IPC and released later on bail. Nine Shiv Sainiks were arrested for vandalism.